Nonreciprocal superconducting NbSe2 antenna

• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-19459-5
• Publication Date: 2020-11-06T11:03:58Z
• Authors: Enze Zhang; Xian Xu; Yi-Chao Zou; Linfeng Ai; Xiang Dong; Ce Huang; Pengliang Leng; Shanshan Liu; Yuda Zhang; Zehao Jia; Xinyue Peng; Minhao Zhao; Yunkun Yang; Zihan Li; Hangwen Guo; Sarah J. Haigh; Naoto Nagaosa; Jian Shen; Faxian Xiu
• Keywords: 0303 health sciences; 03 medical and health sciences; Science; Q; 7. Clean energy; Article

AbstractThe rise of two-dimensional (2D) crystalline superconductors has opened a new frontier of investigating unconventional quantum phenomena in low dimensions. However, despite the enormous advances achieved towards understanding the underlying physics, practical device applications like sensors and detectors using 2D superconductors are still lacking. Here, we demonstrate nonreciprocal antenna devices based on atomically thin NbSe2. Reversible nonreciprocal charge transport is unveiled in 2D NbSe2 through multi-reversal antisymmetric second harmonic magnetoresistance isotherms. Based on this nonreciprocity, our NbSe2 antenna devices exhibit a reversible nonreciprocal sensitivity to externally alternating current (AC) electromagnetic waves, which is attributed to the vortex flow in asymmetric pinning potentials driven by the AC driving force. More importantly, a successful control of the nonreciprocal sensitivity of the antenna devices has been achieved by applying electromagnetic waves with different frequencies and amplitudes. The device’s response increases with increasing electromagnetic wave amplitude and exhibits prominent broadband sensing from 5 to 900 MHz.